A Plan for Improvement

Working with The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), The Lewin Group has developed an investment plan to improve the nation's core capacity for infectious diseases surveillance. This project evolved because of recent challenges to disease surveillance including bioterrorism, emerging infections, the rapid pace of technological development, and changes in the health care delivery system.
 
Research and Recommendations

Lewin Group consultants conducted extensive research, including a literature review, interviews, and site visits, and convened a panel of experts to assist in plan development. Drawing on the literature and the experience of the expert panelists, our report, Assessing Core Capacity for Infectious Diseases Surveillance, cites eight goals for infectious diseases surveillance. Moreover, our research identified three types of gaps in performance across these goals:

• Gaps in the core capacity of the key entities involved in surveillance.
• Gaps in the flow of data among the entities involved in surveillance.
• Gaps in the structures that support surveillance.

The report recommends a three-pronged approach to addressing these gaps and outlines a series of investments within each area. In addition, the report proposes funding an overarching structure to manage and evaluate the investments, track innovative surveillance-related activities, and disseminate and coordinate the information with other infectious diseases surveillance initiatives.

View the full text of this report. For more information on this project and The Lewin Group's disease surveillance expertise, contact The Lewin Group.